SOURCE: X-Men: Schism
Mutants – those beings born with natural super powers – once
represented the future of humanity. But as a wise man once said, “the
future isn’t what it used to be,” and various circumstances have reduced
the number of mutants world-wide to just about 200. Most of them now
live on an artificial island dubbed Utopia, located just off the coast
of San Francisco. With Mutantkind in such dire straits, their de facto
leader, Scott Summers (a.k.a. the X-Men
leader Cyclops), intends to go before the United Nations and ask for
the recognition of Utopia as a peaceful nation. More, he plans to ask
for the destruction of any weapons technology that specifically targets
mutants.
An attack on the UN by a telepathic mutant terrorist leaves the rest
of the world largely unsympathetic and leads to a run on the sale of
Sentinels, the robotic assassins built exclusively to hunt and kill
mutants. This is all according to the machinations of Kade Kilgore, a
young munitions magnate and owner of most of the world’s remaining
Sentinels. As Kilgore’s plans develop, the X-Men
find themselves stretched increasingly thin trying to protect a world
that hates and fears them from an army of malfunctioning Sentinels. And
as the threat of total destruction builds and Cyclops forces more and
more young mutants into battle, Wolverine will find himself taking a stand against his leader and starting a fight for the future of Mutantkind.
I’ve never been a big
X-Men fan. In fact, it would be fair to say that I believe that
X-Men
comics in general are the epitome of everything that is wrong with
American superhero comics. The storylines are dominated by characters
who had far more thought put into their powers than their personalities.
You need to read more than a doctoral student working on her thesis to
have even a basic grasp of the continuity. And on the rare occasions a
creator tries to do something unusual or thoughtful with the concept
(I’m thinking Grant Morrison’s
New X-Men or Joss Whedon’s
Astonishing X-Men), the fandom revolts and demands more of the same epic storylines where Everything Changes Forever.
X-Men: Schism is guilty of all of these
generalizations. And yet, I found myself enjoying it anyway. The story
Jason Aaron tells here is remarkably accessible, despite being mired in
some complex continuity. While most of the supporting cast doesn’t get
much definition and there are a few bits where only long-time X-Fans
will get the joke, the action flows well and Aaron takes the time to
show off the hidden paternal side of the team badass, Wolverine. Indeed, some of the best scenes in this story involve Wolverine
and his efforts to try and give some sense of normalcy to the life of a
14-year-old girl who considers herself a monster because of her powers.
While the script flows well enough, the art doesn’t always aid the story. Each of the five chapters of
X-Men: Schism
is drawn by a different artist, each of them possessing a completely
different style. They are all good artists, but the differences seem
jarring at times as the story transitions from one scene to another.
Kieron Gillen,
who wrote the final issue in this TP collection, fares somewhat better
in his story, detailing how the two factions of mutants are formed in
the wake of the titular schism. There are a lot of effective character
moments here and some good humor. Sadly, the artistic metaphor of the
B-story of this chapter – an odd sequence depicting the various X-Men as
a tribe of cavemen rallying around two of their fellows battling for
supremacy – seems to be less about tribalism as a metaphor for the
current state of the Mutant population taking sides with either Cyclops
or Wolverine and more about giving artist Billy Tan a chance to draw the
X-Men as fur-clad barbarians.
Despite this tiny bit of fan service and the general sense that we’ve
seen a lot of this story before in various pieces (Wolverine bonds with
a troubled teenage girl, Wolverine fighting Cyclops, the return of The
Sentinels, etc.), I’d still recommend this book. It isn’t the greatest
X-Men
story ever written, but it is a must-read for those who wish to know
the current status quo of the team. It is good for what it is, a
well-paced action flick on paper.
X-Men: Schism
by Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen
Art by Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acuna, Alan Davis, Adam Kubert and Billy Tan
ISBN: 9780785156680
Marvel Comics, 2012
Publisher Age Rating: T (13 and Up)
